Why is Equiano's observation of the smell of the slave ship important to the narrative?

The description of the smell speaks to Equiano's fear. Terrified of what would happen next, he described the "smell" as the most prominent source of his suffering. He saw the white men as animals, and although he was frightened of what would happen, he was most affected by the pestilence.

When he is first confronted with a slave ship and white men, he thinks that these men with different complexions are evil spirits with bad intentions: "I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and long hair" (54). White men may have seen these black natives as animals, but no more than Equiano saw them as horrible beasts, a life form lower than himself. Once on the slave . ship, his aristocratic views continue, as he is crammed down below with many dead and dying Africans. With these horrible surroundings, Equiano's worst suffering came from the "pestilential" smell.